


c'mon ya shit talker, now swing

by notthebigspoon



Series: 37 Stitches [7]
Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-01 23:17:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1049749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthebigspoon/pseuds/notthebigspoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The man’s hair is still jet black at sixty six, with a few streaks of silver around his temples. He walks tall, doesn’t bat an eyelash at anything that occurs around him. Clayton isn’t a wuss or anything but he’s never quite been able to talk to Benny ‘The Jet’ Rodriguez. He keeps himself to respectful nods and maintains a distance. Maybe that’s why Clayton feels like he’s shaking in his cleats when Rodriguez walks straight up to him and tells him they’re going to have a <i>talk</i>. Clayton can hear the italics and he shoots Kemp a desperate expression that gets him absolutely nowhere.</p><p>Title taken from Enemy by Sevendust.</p>
            </blockquote>





	c'mon ya shit talker, now swing

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place between [ in control pressin' pause on my heartbeat](http://archiveofourown.org/works/709140) and [ some wild in your smile](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1046943).

The man’s hair is still jet black at sixty six, with a few streaks of silver around his temples. He walks tall, doesn’t bat an eyelash at anything that occurs around him. Clayton isn’t a wuss or anything but he’s never quite been able to talk to Benny ‘The Jet’ Rodriguez. He keeps himself to respectful nods and maintains a distance. Maybe that’s why Clayton feels like he’s shaking in his cleats when Rodriguez walks straight up to him and tells him they’re going to have a _talk_. Clayton can hear the italics and he shoots Kemp a desperate expression that gets him absolutely nowhere.

The hand on his shoulder feels like it weighs a ton. It holds him firmly in place and steers him into the dugout and through the tunnels. Clayton is not a small man but right now he feels about two inches tall. He obediently sits down at a table, watches blankly while Rodriguez fills two plates with sandwiches and pasta salad. Rodriguez sits down across from him, thumps a plate down in front of each of them, starts eating. When Clayton doesn’t start as well, he’s given a pointed look that cows him into picking up a fork.

“See, thing is, it’s not easy.”

Clayton stares. “... what’s not easy?”

“Being gay. In the show. Though I figure… no, I know, it’d be a lot easier now than it was in my day.” Rodriguez muses, eyeing an olive before popping it into his mouth. “Still. Not easy. Thing is, is it worth it?”

“What are you _talking_ about?” Clayton demands, voice rising sharply. “Seriously, what are you talking about?!”

“Do me the courtesy of not playing stupid.” Rodriguez says. He’s no longer amused. “You and Lincecum. Is he worth it? Is he worth the everloving shitstorm that is going to rain down on you when word starts getting around? Because you’ve been seen. Maybe not by anyone that would spread it yet, but you have been seen.”

“And?” Clayton asks defiantly. “So what if I have been seen with him? I’m allowed to be seen with my boyfriend.”

Rodriguez smiles. “Lower your voice, Kershaw, your defense mechanism is showing. You still haven’t answered my question. Is he worth it?”

“... yes. He’s worth it. He’s worth everything. All of this could end tomorrow and it wouldn’t matter because I _know_ he would be there. He wouldn’t leave me to the wolves. He’d be right there alongside me and me by him. So yeah, he’s worth it. He always will be. Someday, I’ll ask him to… we’ll…”

“Calm down kid.” Rodriguez says, reaching over the table and punching Clayton’s shoulder. “I was just asking because I’ve heard a few things about the kid. Sensitive and all that. It’d probably break him more than it would break you, if it all went wrong. Shouldn’t toy around with someone, in circumstances like these, if you’re not going to be there for them if it all goes wrong.”

“Why are you asking me all of this?”

Rodriguez shrugs. “Met the love of my life when I was fifteen. Couldn’t play baseball for shit, almost got me killed… s’where the nickname came from, but that’s a story for another time. Point is, I kissed him when we were teenagers and for years, it just kept going, me and him. Never occurred to either of us that there was someone else in the world for us. But I looked at it the wrong way.”

“How did you look at it?”

“I saw Scott as one of those things that was worth it, but baseball was life, and if it came down to it, I might have to choose baseball because baseball was worth more to me.”

“What changed your mind?”

“I got hurt.” Rodriguez says, frowning and fidgeting with his wedding band. “Thought it was all over. They rally around you at first. But then people start drifting away. They’re focused on themselves. They stop calling. The team says they’re gonna stick with you but when you don’t look like you’re coming back, they don’t need you anymore. You’re done for. It’s all over.”

“But he was there.”

“Scott was, yes.” Rodriguez nods. “Always. He moved in. Said he knew I needed the help and his lease was up. He stayed.. and he stayed… made me go to appointments, go through with the surgery, go to physical therapy. If it wasn’t for him, I never would have played again. My first game back, I stole home. Was going back to the dugout and I could see him up in the box. And I knew. We went home that night and I asked him to marry me.”

“But it wasn’t-”

“Legal. I know. But it meant something to us. Got rings. There’s never been a question ever since. The two of us, it never got out very far. But even if it had, it wouldn’t have mattered. Because as long as we had each other, nothing else mattered. You didn’t have to learn that lesson the hard way. Consider yourself lucky kid.”

Clayton nods slowly, scrubs both of his hands over his face. “This is all… it’s a little overwhelming. Why me? How me? How’d you know?”

“Scott and I saw the two of you stealing kisses outside In-n-Out.” Rodriguez grins. “Kinda cute. Well, you’ve got a game to play and I’ve got a game to watch. Dodger dogs to eat and all that.”

Rodriguez shakes his hand and pulls him into a one armed hug, wanders off out of the catering room, leaving Clayton to wonder what the hell just happened. He fishes his phone out of his pocket, sends out a quick text to Tim ‘I love you’ before shoving his phone into his pocket and heading to the clubhouse to get ready for the game. He’s standing on the field, scanning the crowd, when he spots Rodriguez again. Sure enough, he’s got a Dodger dog in hand, a beer in front of him and a man sitting next to him, smiling at Rodriguez the way Tim smiles at Clayton.

Clayton smiles at them before looking away. They’ve had to hide it their entire lives. Clayton doesn’t think he’s going to hide anything that much longer.


End file.
